REBEL forces in the northern Mali city of Kidal claimed on May 22nd to have defeated government forces as well as African UN and French troops. Dozens have died and other towns may have fallen to the rebels as well or are endangered. A few days earlier the government had dispatched 2,000 barely-trained soldiers 1,500 km from Bamako, the capital, to the troubled region around Kidal following an earlier armed standoff during a visit by the prime minister. They met an about equal number of ethnic Tuareg rebels, who may have been aided by jihadists.